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"and nature, things common and uncommon; "and from these objects fhould educe Comparisons for ornament, inftruction, or illuftra❝tion *"

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(8) We may be allowed to derive our Comparifons from the appearance of things, from natural and eafy conjecture or imagination, from report and tradition, and from the heathen Mythology; as Rhetoric is by no means reftrained to the truth and precision of Logic. Some inftances of these kinds of liberty I fhall produce. From the appearance of things, and not from a real fact in nature, is a fimile of Mr BELCHAM, taken in his fine Latin ode, entitled, Mors Triumphans. The famous ALEXANDER is thus defcribed:

Hark from the earth's remoteft bounds,
Young AMMON's peerlefs fame refounds:
Not the loud torrent louder roars,
Or wider devastation pours.

On Ganges' banks the chief appears,
Th' affrighted flood his thunder hears,
That, from his hand refistless hurl'd,
Bows to his beck the eaftern world.

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Sed inventio fimilium facilis erit, fiquis fibi omnes res animatas & inanimatas, mutas & loquentes, feras & manfuetas, terreftres & cœleftes & maritimas, artificio, cafu, natura comparatas, ufitatas atque inufitatas, frequenter ante oculos poterit ponere, & ex his aliquam venari fimilitudinem, quæ aut ornare, aut docere, aut apertiorem rem facere, aut ponere ante oculos poffit. CICER. ad HEREN. lib. iv. n. 48.

In a proud blaze of armour drefs'd,

He boasts himself fupremely bless'd:
Mad to divinity he tow'rs,

While o'er him death tremendous low'rs.

Breathless at Babylon he lies,

Whom earth's domain could not fuffice:

A tomb, an urn the god contain,

And close his triumphs, and his reign.

The fimile follows, in which appearance, and not fact, is regarded,

So in night's blue serene a star,
Sublime, confpicuous, beaming far,
Shoots to the earth a length of rays,
And in a moment ends its blaze *.

In like manner natural and easy conjecture

* Mundi in remotis finibus æftuat
Torrentis inftar dux Macedonius ;
Stupetque Ganges, dum fuperbo
Fulminat imperio per Indos:

Jam nunc beatum fe crepat, & fremit,
Fulgens in armis; nunc & Olympios
Infanus adfectas honores,

Præcipiti rapiende fato!

Quem totus orbis non caperet, brevi
Vidêre turres hunc Babylonia
Dejectum, & ingentes triumphos
Compofitos humili fepulchro.

Sic ftella noctu, per liquidam æthera,
Sublimis, ardens, confpicitur polo,
Flammas corufcans; mox, repentè
Lapfa, petit peritura terras.

Pag. 4.

and

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We fhall also find in celebrated Writers, Comparisons taken from the pagan Mythology, or their strange fables, against the use of which in Rhetoric I can fee no fufficient objection, provided there be no honours paid to heathen Deities, or no commendation of pagan rites and fuperititions. We may meet with an example of this fort in the following lines, in which MILTON describes the angel RAPHAEL, and then compares him to MERCURY!

At once on th' eaftern cliff of paradife

He lights, and to his proper fhape returns
A feraph wing'd; fix wings he wore to shade
His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad came mantling o'er his breast
With regal ornament; the middle pair
Girt like a ftarry zone his waist, and round,
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold,
And colours dipt in heav'n; the third his feet
Shadow'd from either heel with feather'd mail,
Sky-tinctur'd grain. Like MAIA's fon he stood,
And fhook his plumes, that heav'nly fragrance fill'd
The circuit wide

I might add, that not only the pagan fables, but other tales that have fpread through mankind, lay the foundation for Paraboles. MILTON, speaking of the fallen angels, fays,

So thick the aery crowd

Swarm'd, and were straiten'd; till the fignal giv'n, Behold a wonder! They but now who seem'd

MILTON's Paradife Loft, book v. line 275.

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In bigness to surpass earth's giant fons,

Now less than smallest dwarfs in fmalleft room
Throng numberless, like that Pygmean race
Beyond the Indian mount, or fairy elves,
Whofe midnight revels by a foreft fide,
Or fountain, fome belated peasant fees,
Or dreams he fees, while over head the moon
Sits arbitrefs, and nearer to the earth

Wheels her pale courfe; they, on their mirth and dance
Intent, with jocund mufic charm his ear;

At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds f.

§ 9. We fhall conclude with fome directions concerning the right use and management of the Parabole.

And,

1. We should take heed that our similies are clear and confpicuous. "In Comparisons, fays

QUINTILIAN, we should be particularly care"ful that what we adopt into our difcourfes, for "the fake of similitude, be not obscure or un

known, as the thing which we employ for the "illuftrating another, ought to be clearer than "the thing we design to illuftrate ."

2. Let our Comparisons be juft and exact; that is, let there be a real resemblance between the thing that we compare, and the thing to which Gg 3

+ Paradife Loft, book i. line 775.

it

Quo in genere id eft præcipue cuftodiendum, ne id good fimilitudinis gratia aicivimus, aut obfcurum fit, aut ignotum. Debet enim, quod illuftrandæ alterius rei gratia afumitur, ipfum elle clarius eo quod illuminat. QUINTIL. lib. viii. cap. 3. $5.

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We shall also find in celebrated Writers, Comparifons taken from the pagan Mythology, or their strange fables, against the use of which in Rhetoric I can fee no fufficient objection, provided there be no honours paid to heathen Deities, or no commendation of pagan rites and fuperftitions. We may meet with an example of this fort in the following lines, in which MILTON defcribes the angel RAPHAEL, and then compares him to MERCURY!

At once on th' eaftern cliff of paradife

He lights, and to his proper fhape returns
A feraph wing'd; fix wings he wore to shade
His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad came mantling o'er his breast
With regal ornament; the middle pair

Girt like a ftarry zone his waist, and round
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold,
And colours dipt in heav'n; the third his feet
Shadow'd from either heel with feather'd mail,
Sky-tinctur'd grain. Like MAIA's fon he flood,
And fhook his plumes, that heav'nly fragrance fill'd
The circuit wide

I might add, that not only the pagan fables, but other tales that have fpread through mankind, lay the foundation for Paraboles. MILTON, fpeaking of the fallen angels, fays,

So thick the aery crowd

Swarm'd, and were ftraiten'd; till the fignal giv'n,
Behold a wonder! They but now who seem'd

* MILTON's Paradife Loft, book v. line 275.

In

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